Project Runway’s first-ever African-American winner Dom Streater has offically burst onto the New York Fashion Week scene.
According to the Huffington Post, the 25-year-old designer presented her first collection during the NYFW festivities. The 27-piece Fall/Winter 2014 collection called Prima was presented in a studio in downtown New York City to an audience of editors, bloggers and fashion insiders.
The Philadelphia native said that her inspiration for the collection came from a photograph of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. “It’s this really ethereal, wild child photo—but also really romantic.”
In an industry that has publically struggled with diversity, Streater says that she doesn’t feel any added pressure to have a successful career because she is an African-American designer.
“I don’t think the expectations for me should be any different from any other designers who have won. The only expectations I have is that my designs are good every season and that’s the only thing I want to deliver,” said Streater. “In the past five years I’ve seen more growth in diversity within the industry than I have ever seen. So I think it’s definitely something we’re moving towards.”